Billerica Select Board Warns Shawsheen Tech Over 7 Percent Budget Hike

BILLERICA -- March 20, 2023, Billerica's Select Board voted unanimously on a slate of spring Town Meeting warrant articles Monday while sharply criticizing Shawsheen Valley Technical High School's proposed 7.09 percent budget increase. Town Manager John Curran told the board that all five sending-community town managers had signed a joint letter to Shawsheen's School Committee calling the late-filed budget submission "simply unacceptable," noting the roughly $600,000 increase arrived after sending communities had already finalized their own budgets and that district enrollment has declined by roughly 20 to 22 students. The board approved six warrant articles, including a $100,000 appropriation for sewer pump station repairs, a $250,000 SCADA upgrade at the Water Resource Recovery Facility, and a $220,000 PEG cable fund transfer. Congresswoman Lori Trahan's office submitted a $3 million federal funding request for the Town Center project on the day of the meeting. The board also approved a carnival license for the Billerica Alliance Club and Fiesta Shows at 600 Technology Park Drive for June 1 through 4, and a one-day alcohol license for the Friends of the Billerica Council on Aging's black-tie bingo, sold out for the first time in the event's history.